


hear all these words (it breaks my heart)

by extasiswings



Category: Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, F/M, Foggy Has the Patience of a Saint, Foggy Nelson Is a Good Bro, Friendship, Gen, Law School, Pre-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-07
Updated: 2015-09-07
Packaged: 2018-04-19 16:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4752377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extasiswings/pseuds/extasiswings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Foggy Nelson is a saint. At the very least, he’s pretty sure that being friends with Matt and Darcy for so many years without resorting to drastic measures should qualify him for some sort of sainthood candidacy or whatever the process is because spending that much time with two people who are both completely in love with each other and completely oblivious to that fact? Sucks. </p><p>(Or: The college adventures of one Franklin P. Nelson as he waits for his best friends to get their acts together) </p><p>[Companion to: drifting through the halls with the sunrise]</p>
            </blockquote>





	hear all these words (it breaks my heart)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shuofthewind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuofthewind/gifts).



> Foggy is a good friend. A very good friend. 
> 
> Happy Reading.

Foggy Nelson is a saint. At the very least, he’s pretty sure that being friends with Matt and Darcy for so many years without resorting to drastic measures should qualify him for some sort of sainthood candidacy or whatever the process is because spending that much time with two people who are both completely in love with each other and completely oblivious to that fact? Sucks.

Seriously, he’s never known any two people so allergic to feelings (or at least feelings that matter because it’s not that the two of them don’t date at all, they do, a lot, which is part of the problem because they never date _each other_ and the _pining_ , god, he could write books on the pining).

It starts something like this. Matt comes back to their dorm on their first day of undergrad talking about this girl he met in class named Darcy, and Foggy, being the not-oblivious person in the room, notes that particular developing crush from a mile off. By the time he actually meets Darcy a month or so later, he’s pretty sure he could name her favorite food, color, birthday, what she wants to do with her life, and what perfume she uses without ever having to ask.

(He tries to get Matt to admit to his feelings a couple times, but either he’s being too subtle about it or Matt just actively has a severe lack of self-awareness going on, because he never seems to have any idea what Foggy is getting at)

When Foggy does meet Darcy though, it’s both great and terrible. Great, because she’s awesome and funny and basically everything Matt says she is, but terrible because it only takes him about three seconds to realize that she has it just as bad for Matt and is just as oblivious. At first, he thinks it’s cute—they’re like one of those poetry inspirations about suns and stars and thinking the other is only looking at the ground or whatever—but after the first six months, it’s no longer cute. It’s frustrating.

(Now, because he’s a good friend, he doesn’t push, although he doesn’t hold himself back from subtle hints, especially during mornings after Darcy’s stayed over in their room and is wearing Matt’s clothes—because seriously, that’s a thing, and yeah, sometimes she steals his clothes too but they’re usually Matt’s—but sometimes he seriously considers just locking them in a closet and going, “Hey, Darce, Matt like-likes you, please discuss,” because after a certain point, it’s just sad)

It really is frustrating though, because both of them do date a lot, especially Matt, and although Foggy doesn’t pass judgment on the fact that most of Matt’s relationships don’t last longer than a few weeks at most, it would be very easy for him to point out that _most women aren’t particularly interested in being with a guy who never stops talking about another woman, especially when he looks at said woman like she hung the moon_ (metaphorically speaking, since he can’t actually see her, but he looks in her general direction and his feelings are written all over his face, so it’s the principle of the thing).

Elektra happens though, and she stays with Matt for a solid six months during their last year of undergrad, long enough that Foggy does wonder if maybe, just maybe he’s been wrong about Matt and Darcy the whole time.

(It would be fine if he is. After all, he’s all for more male-female friendships, but even then he’s not so sure he is wrong, especially because Darcy is just the slightest bit squirrely about Elektra—she’s still very much present, but there’s a slight distance to the way she interacts with Matt that’s different enough to be noticeable—and Matt still reaches for her without thinking, even when she’s no longer always where she would have been before)

Matt and Elektra break up and it’s terrible for a little while. Admittedly, Foggy has mixed feelings about Elektra in general, so he would be lying if he said he’s not a little supportive of the break-up, but Matt’s more upset than he’s ever seen him, so he keeps that to himself.

(He notices that the distance between Matt and Darcy goes away after that, but he keeps that to himself as well. It’s not like he doesn’t have practice where those two are concerned)

By the end of undergrad, Foggy genuinely does have to wonder if he’s made up this whole thing though, because it’s been _four years_. Surely no one can be that oblivious for four years, right?

Wrong.

When they start law school in the fall, Foggy catches up with some of their former classmates from undergrad who also elected to go the Columbia Law route, and there’s almost nothing a bunch of law students like more than gossip. He finds out that half of their graduating class thought Matt and Darcy were dating, even people who never interacted with either of them.

And, well? That’s when the bets start, and he ends up in charge of them, because no one is better equipped to handle the verifications of when things do or don’t happen than him, and he’s a good friend, but after four years, he really should get something. A medal, or…hazard pay. Something.

So, there are bets. There are bets for things like when Matt and Darcy will get together (“Christmas,” “Valentine’s Day—of next year,” “Her birthday”), for when each of them will figure it out, or if they’ll figure it out, and the bets, ironically, are how he meets Marci.

(Technically, it’s how Foggy meets Marci for the second time, because they were in the same civics class in undergrad, and he thinks they might have actually slept together once, but he doesn’t really remember it, and because she was—is, definitely is—kind of amazingly terrifying, he never really spoke to her)

“Are you placing bets on your best friends’ love lives?” And yes, definitely still terrifying and it probably says something about him that he’s really into it.

“Technically, I’m just the bookie, and as such am only helping other people place bets on my best friends’ love lives,” he replies.

“Uh-huh. Whatever you need to tell yourself, Foggy-bear.”

“Foggy…bear?”

Her lips curve into a wicked smile that makes him swallow hard because she kind of looks like she could eat him alive and he’s not actually seeing a problem with that.

“Should I not call you that?”

“No, no, that’s, you know, that’s fine.”

“Okay. Want to get out of here?”

“Yes, definitely, yes.”

(They date for the next year and it’s undoubtedly one of if not the best relationship he’s been in, even if—or possibly because—she never stops being terrifying. She also tries very hard not to get involved in any of his ideas related to Matt and Darcy.

_“Foggy-bear, I’m not going on double dates with you and your best friends when they don’t even know they’re dating.”_

_“But—”_

_“No.”_

But at the same time, he’s pretty sure she’s at least somewhat invested because she places at least one bet—get-together: week after graduation—so he knows she’s way more of a softy than she likes to act sometimes)

The thing about law school though, is that’s it’s really freaking hard, so there comes a point at which Foggy decides he needs to be less invested and starts leaving them to their own devices because it really does take a lot of energy being so frustrated, even if lovingly, all the time.

There does come a point at which Matt at least figures out his feelings because that’s the point at which he starts blushing—honest to god, blushing—whenever Darcy gets worked up about something, and Foggy just has to laugh every time she catches it because she still doesn’t realize and they’re such idiots and it’s hilarious.

(He thinks he might bring it up with Matt at some point, but that night is such a blur that he doesn’t want to bring it up again on the off chance that he didn’t before, because if that’s the case, he’s definitely not going to get anywhere)

He does bring it up to Darcy once, halfway through their 3L year when she’s single and Matt’s single and for once neither of them seem to be looking.

“So, you and Matt,” he starts.

“Me and Matt, what?”

“Have you ever thought that maybe, I don’t know, you should date?”

(The thing is, she freezes a little, and her face goes tight in the way it does when she really does not want to talk about something, and if he didn’t know her so well he might not have even noticed but he does)

“Why?” There’s an edge to her voice that’s almost definitely a warning, but it’s been almost seven years of this, so Foggy ignores it.

“You obviously care about each other, and I just thought it could maybe…be a nice extension of your friendship?”

“You and I obviously care about each other. Does mean we should date? What, are women not allowed to have male friends without having romantic feelings for them? Is that what you’re saying?”

“No, that’s not what I—”

“Good, then if that’s not what you’re saying, I see no reason to continue this discussion. Pass me my Evidence book?”

“Darce—”

“The _book_ , Foggy.” And that’s the end of that.

He doesn’t try again, at least not in any kind of an obvious way, because there doesn’t seem to be much of a point to it. Seven years. Seven years of school, of longing looks, of obliviousness, is a lot for a person to deal with, and he loves them, these ridiculous friends of his, but it’s not his problem, so he shouldn’t be the one trying to fix it.

So, he gives up. Which, of course, is exactly when things start happening.

Really, he's expecting that sainthood any day now. 

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [keep it low (like a secret code)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4780841) by [shuofthewind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shuofthewind/pseuds/shuofthewind)




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